1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computer network data traffic and, more particularly, to servicing and managing computer network transactions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic commerce transactions are taking place over an increasing number of computer data networks, especially networks that communicate using the Internet protocol. Such transactions require highly reliable security to ensure proper completion of sale and purchase transactions, to ensure proper charges and credits, and to provide confidence to users that confidential information is not stolen or misdirected. In particular, the secure Internet communications standard that is in most widespread use is the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), which is used for encryption and transfer of sensitive information. The sensitive information includes electronic transaction message data such as order information, payment and billing account information, shipping address, order history, and the like.
Most conventional Internet browsers, such as “Internet Explorer” by Microsoft Corporation and “Navigator” by Netscape Communications, Inc., support SSL encryption processing. Such communications are typically accomplished with the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), using such HTTP features as GET and POST messages to process communications between a customer at a network client node and an electronic transaction processor at a network server machine.
Because of the nature of the Internet, any message (such as an electronic transaction message) must pass through a great number of machines beginning with a client computer connected to the Internet before the message finds its way over the network and is received at the appropriate transaction server machine. To properly support such electronic transactions, suitable server systems for processing the transactions must provide reliable back-up operations in the event of failures in the SSL connections, or other HTTP communication failures. Most SSL connections are implemented through client computers that are hard-wired to a network connection, either through a local area network (LAN) connection or through a modem device. Such network connections are typically relatively stable on the client side connection, so that the SSL connection is usually maintained throughout the transaction process to completion.
The increasing use of wireless devices, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistant devices (PDAs), has made them suitable platforms to carry out electronic transactions as well. In this case, however, failures are more likely to occur on the client side, due to the nature of wireless communications, which are more susceptible to transmission errors, weak signals, and broken connections. This increased susceptibility to failure requires technologies that could sustain the state of the transaction and be able to continue that transaction once the customer re-establishes connection with the server.
Some state recovery techniques try to detect errors in POST message processing and then attempt to recover such message (transaction) processing by repeating the electronic transaction messages. For example, the “NetStructure 7180” product from Intel Corporation detects errors in responses to HTTP form POST operations and replays the form POST operation in turn to other Web servers until it receives a success response or until it has exhausted the list of known Web servers. This helps ensure that transactions are eventually completed, but this technique typically only handles transaction data submitted in the form of HTTP form POST operations and only recognizes synchronous error responses in the HTTP response. Systems that use this technique cannot handle transactions made up of multiple request or response messages and will not work properly in cases where POST is not implemented.
It should be apparent that there is a need for tracking of electronic commerce transactions comprised of both single and multiple messages and there is a need for detecting failures within those transactions. The present invention satisfies these needs.